Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of bicycle accessories and more particularly to the field of bicycle tire levers for removing and installing bicycle tires or the tubes thereof.
Related Art
Bicycle tire levers are typically made in the same way, namely a three pack of about 4.5 inch×0.6 inch×0.3 inch plastic pieces with a removal hook at one end for prying under the bead of the tire and a notch at the other end for catching under a spoke.
One prior art bicycle tire lever has both a removal hook and an installation hook on one end, and telescopes to an extended length in order to attach the opposite end onto the axle of the wheel hub. This hub attachment helps to guide one end of the tire lever, while the user pushes the other end around the rim to either remove or install a tire.
At the time of this telescoping tire lever invention, virtually all front and rear bicycle hubs had a relatively similar 9 mm diameter axle for the front and 10 mm diameter for the rear, which made it straight forward to connect the tire lever to the axle. However, in the past few years, several new axle standards have emerged, particularly in mountain bikes. For example, for the front, there are now three common axle standards: 9 mm standard, 15 mm thru, and 20 mm thru. “Thru” means that there is a separate axle that passes through the hub, and the axle is removed prior to removing the wheel from the bicycle frame or fork, and normally this axle is not installed in the hub during a tire change. For the rear, there is 10 mm standard and 12 mm thru. The current telescoping tire lever cannot accommodate these large differences in axle sizes and styles, particularly the front. If not connected to the axle, it is difficult to push the current telescoping tire lever along the rim without the removal hook slipping out from under the tire bead, which can result in skinned knuckles from hitting the spokes of the wheel.
The reasons for needing to remove and install tires are well known. The two most difficult and often most time consuming steps of changing a tube or tire are prying the bead off the rim and then pushing the bead back onto the rim. The telescoping tire lever works well for wheels with the old standard axle sizes, but not with the more recent larger axle sizes and styles. Furthermore, by having both the installation and removal hooks on the same end of the lever, the hooks cannot be optimally shaped to fit along the wheel rim. For example, when installing a tire, the removal hook interferes with the tire side wall, and on certain tires, interferes with the tread of the tire. Additionally, only a narrow range of polymers can mold (and remain) straight enough in order for the injection molded telescoping tire lever components to correctly slide against each other. Some materials, such as unfilled Nylon, are slippery and strong, yet unfilled Nylon does not mold very straight and it changes dimensions as it absorbs moisture, jamming the telescoping action. This limits the material choices to ones that mold very straight, but are not optimal for wear, friction, strength, and cost.
Therefore, a need exits for a tire lever that overcomes the disadvantages described above.